‘New’ Beatles Song, ‘Now and Then,’ Released Today

The very last Beatles song debuted this morning on all platforms, including live with Robby and Rochelle and Michele Amabile on 1071 The Boss.

The track, “Now and Then,” features vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s. In 1994, his wife, Yoko Ono, gave the three-song demo to surviving Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. The songs were originally intended for the three-volume The Beatles Anthology outtakes collection (and accompanying long-form video) released in 1995 and ’96. They then used it to create “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” but they were unable to finish “Now and Then” due to due to Lennon’s piano drowning out his voice in places on the demo.

Through the magic of new AI technology utilized by Peter Jackson used to separate voices from background noise in the 2021 “Get Back” Beatles documentary, Lennon’s vocal was finally isolated. Late in 2022, McCartney, Starr, co-producer Giles Martin and others finished the song, leaving only Lennon’s original vocal and Harrison’s 1994 guitar tracks. The “new” Beatles song was recorded in three separate segments, with McCartney adding in a brief slide guitar solo.

In addition, the forthcoming reissue of the popular “1962-66” and “1967-1970” collections — known to fans as the red and blue albums — will also feature AI-aided remixes of The Fab Four’s early material (full separation of the instruments was not possible with earlier technology).

You can listen to “Now and Then” now via digital services and on YouTube. The official video for the song is set to drop Friday, November 3, at 10 a.m.